Warming Up

With Echofon still down and the clunky Twitter app my only option on the phone, I am tweeting a lot less and also finding it hard to follow Twitter in general. So this could potentially be the methadone to ween me off. But I still click all my broken apps first. The most baffling part of the Twitter app for me is that you have an option to see all notifications or just mentions (though that doesn’t seem to update properly) OR just notifications from verified accounts. I don’t know if that’s always been there, (though it certainly smacks of something Musk would put in, given his obsession) but I can’t imagine what kind of prick would only want to see the mentions from verified users. Maybe if you were obsessed with celebs/notable figures it might have been some use in the past (but you’d still be an idiot for using it), but now that being verified might just mean that you’ve paid? Who wants that? I think people who pay for Twitter are idiots and stooges. I’d actually pay to NOT see the tweets from people who have paid. Especially from people who’ve paid not to see paid tweeters.

Twitter usually acts as a neat little notepad for Warming Up. I can make an observation or put in a reminder that, when it comes to writing, will spark my broken memory and give me something to write about. But now I am not really tweeting that system is falling apart. So if the quality of Warming Up suffers (can it get any worse?) then blame Elon Musk. He seems to be doing his best to put people off using his platform, so why not take down everything else with it?

I was interested to see that long-term comedy fan and excellent person Sarah K tweeted this "Have briefly browsed @edfringe accommodation and the cheapest one I have been able to find was 20% more than I paid last year. Most are more than DOUBLE what I paid last year. For student accommodation in Edinburgh I could get the same fortnight all-inclusive in the Caribbean…” 

I hoped that the people of Edinburgh might see sense and try and do something about this issue, but it seems things are getting worse. Aside from the shows, which were great fun, I did not enjoy last year’s Fringe at all and a large part of that was down to the discomfort at it becoming a festival for rich people, both audience and performers. I’ve been in an abusive relationship with the Fringe for 35 years and when it’s treated me nicely I’ve loved it and when it’s treated me badly I’ve blamed myself and made excuses, but this financial disconnect has broken the spell for me and I’d already decided that I wasn’t going back this year (and maybe for the foreseeable). I don’t know if I will or can stick to that and I’d be sad not to take my kids up there again (though why get them addicted to something that might ultimately bankrupt them), but it feels broken to me. 

This is easier for me. I am established comedian and have more than enough work. Newer acts and acts on the cusp of success will feel they need to go (even though I think their money would be better spent making online content to showcase their skills) and I can’t blame them. Less crushed souls will want to go in any case because at its heart the Fringe is an incredible and magical event and an incredible way to learn so much and forge new alliances and somewhere amongst the angst and debt, have some fun. But who will they be performing to?

My issues with he Fringe run deeper than this and I think a big part of my decision to back away is because I realise how much psychological damage I still need to process. It took me four months to get back on a more or less even keel after the last one. But that point about student accommodation (and that’s without paying for food, tickets, travel etc) being equivalent to a fortnight’s all-inclusive beach holiday must surely give the people who run the Fringe (and rent out the accommodation) pause for thought. Apparently short term lets are going to be even more difficult to get this year. 

I feel relieved to have made the decision not to go. Hopefully I can stick to it.